ESPN goes dark on DirecTV ahead of the NFL season as cable takes its latest last stand

Dishin’ it out… For the second year in a row, Disney yanked its TV channels from a major pay-TV provider. On Sunday, 11M+ DirecTV subscribers lost access to Disney-owned channels like ESPN, ABC, and FX after the two companies failed to agree on “carriage fees” — what TV providers pay to networks like Disney to carry their channels. DirecTV says it wants more flexibility to create cheaper channel packages for customers; Disney says it wants premium rates for premium offerings.

• TV guide: It’s a rough time to lose Disney, with the US Open finals, the NFL’s regular-season kickoff, and an ABC presidential debate all on deck.

• Rerun: Last year Disney pulled its channels from Charter’s cable service, which led to a 12-day blackout for 15M customers. In the end Charter agreed to pay higher rates and its customers got Disney+ and ESPN+ at no extra cost.

• Chicken: Disney’s networks are watched by 90% of DirecTV subscribers, giving the Mouse House reason to believe the provider will blink first. DirecTV is likely hoping for a repeat of last year’s Charter-Disney deal.

Cable’s snuff out drags on… 5M+ subscribers left the pay-TV ecosystem last year, opting for streaming services instead. This year isn’t looking better: Q1 was the industry’s worst ever, and Q2 saw another 1.6M folks cut the cord. Last month Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount slashed the valuations of their cable businesses by a combined $15B+. Not making things easier for cable: streamers going big on live sports. Disney plans to launch a full-on streaming version of ESPN next fall.